Giving back responsibly

Giving back responsibly

Camera, Lights..Let’s Read

The Film Industry Fund helping to bring a love of reading to Kleinberg Primary School in Ocean View

On Friday 31st March 2017 The Film Industry Fund handed over a complete library building stocked with 3000 new books all to the value of R270 000,00 to Kleinberg Primary School in Oceanview close to Kommetjie.

South Africa’s literacy levels have been described by National Education Evaluation and Development Unit (NEEDU) CEO, Dr Nick Taylor, as “a national catastrophe and a disaster for the country and future economic growth”. One of the most serious problems is that the majority of primary schools in South Africa are severely under resourced with children lacking access to enough of the right kind of books to read. Indeed NEEDU found that the majority of foundation phase classrooms had only two or three available books for learners to read through a whole year – this despite developmental recommendations that children at this stage should read a book or two a week! Sadly, most communities also do not have local libraries and most homes cannot afford to buy books, exacerbating the problem and inhibiting the development of a culture and love of reading in our youngest citizens.

Through the active support of literacy promotion organisations like help2ead and Breadline Africa, with generous support from The Film Industry Fund, this situation is changing for learners at Kleinberg Primary who today have access to an abundance of literacy resources, a great reading space and reading helpers to give them one-on-one attention.

Kleinberg Primary together with The Film Industry Fund, Breadline Africa and literacy development partner help2read are today delighted to announce the official opening of their new school library.

Created through the stunning conversion of shipping containers, or as in this case a prefabricated structure, Breadline Africa’s library development programme creates a bright, roomy and engaging space, fully equipped with age and stage appropriate reading resources and designed to engage learners by inculcating a love and desire for reading. Learners are aided by Volunteer Reading Helpers recruited, trained and supported by help2read, who commit to at least a year long programme of meeting one-on-one with learners for at least 30 minutes twice a week, helping them master reading for meaning and developing a love for it. help2read has been actively involved with Kleinberg Primary since 2006 and has helped some 380 children learn to read. W working with one child at a time, to help2read aims to overcome the challenge of low levels of literacy in South Africa.

The Film Industry Fund seeks to be a vehicle of change for the South African Film industry by supporting underprivileged communities and projects through local production companies’ contributions.

This exciting trio of influence has transformed an idea into a reality and now the children of Kleinberg Primary School can look forward to the multitude of opportunities that an inspired passion for reading will provide for their futures.